Looking Back on the Vietnam War: Twenty-first-Century Perspectives PDF
Preview Looking Back on the Vietnam War: Twenty-first-Century Perspectives
The Vietnam War BLOOMSBURY TOPICS IN CONTEMPORARY NORTH AMERICAN LITERATURE Series Editor: Sarah Graham Bloomsbury’s Topics in Contemporary North American Literature series offers authoritative guides to major themes in recent American writing. With chapters written by leading scholars in their field, each book surveys a wide range of writing in a variety of genres. These informative and accessible volumes are essential reading for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, facilitating discussion and supporting close analysis of the texts covered. Also available in the Bloomsbury Studies in Contemporary North American Fiction series: Bret Easton Ellis, edited by Naomi Mandel Chuck Palahniuk, edited by Francisco Collado-Rodriguez Cormac McCarthy, edited by Sara Spurgeon Don DeLillo, edited by Stacey Olster Leslie Marmon Silko, edited by David L. Moore Louise Erdrich, edited by Deborah L. Madsen Margaret Atwood, edited by J. Brooks Bouson Philip Roth, edited by Debra Shostak Toni Morrison, edited by Lucille P. Fultz The Vietnam War Topics in Contemporary North American Literature Edited by Brenda M. Boyle Bloomsbury Academic An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc LONDON • NEW DELHI • NEW YORK • SYDNEY Bloomsbury Academic An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 50 Bedford Square 1385 Broadway London New York WC1B 3DP NY 10018 UK USA www.bloomsbury.com BLOOMSBURY and the Diana logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc First published 2015 © Brenda Boyle and Contributors, 2015 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting on or refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by Bloomsbury or the author. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. eISBN: 978-1-4725-1017-4 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. Typeset by Newgen Knowledge Works (P) Ltd., Chennai, India CONTENTS Map vii Chronology viii Introduction: The war stories we tell Brenda M. Boyle 1 1 Michael Herr’s traumatic New Journalism: Dispatches Mark Heberle 27 2 D ương Thu Hương’s Paradise of the Blind and Novel Without a Name, and Bảo Ninh’s The Sorrow of War: Corrective, politically incorrect, and challenging Michele Janette 47 3 “Ten years burning down the road”: Trauma, mourning, and postmemory in Bobbie Ann Mason’s In Country Joanna Price 71 4 War, gender, and race in le thi diem thuy’s The Gangster We Are All Looking For Isabelle Thuy Pelaud 95 5 The home front and the front lines in the war novels of Tim O’Brien Susan Farrell 115 6 The ghost that won’t be exorcised: Larry Heinemann’s Paco’s Story Stacey Peebles 137 vi CONTENTS 7 American totem society in the twenty-first century: Denis Johnson’s Tree of Smoke, Karl Marlantes’s Matterhorn, and Tatjana Solis’s The Lotus Eaters Brenda M. Boyle 159 Further reading 183 Works cited 187 Index 203 MAP A 1960s map of Viet Nam given to all US service people. CHRONOLOGY 1897 After decades of colonizing and warring, France makes itself the government of the Indochina Union. 1917 In “Fourteen Points,” US President Woodrow Wilson insists all nations should be self-determining. 1919 Nguyen Ai Quoc (aka Ho Chi Minh) petitions the WWI Versailles Peace Conference for Vietnamese independence. 1930 The Vietnamese Nationalist Party, founded in 1927, is suppressed by the French colonial government. Subsequently, Ho Chi Minh founds the Indochinese Communist Party. 1940 Japan occupies Viet Nam, retaining the French Vichy administration. 1941 The Indochinese Communist Party creates its military arm, the Viet Minh. US President Franklin D. Roosevelt insists in “Atlantic Charter” that all nations should be self-determining. 1944 Roosevelt advocates a “trusteeship” for Viet Nam in preparation for its freedom from French governance. 1945 Japan expels French officials from Viet Nam and recognizes Emperor Bao Dai as the head of Viet Nam’s government. Roosevelt dies; Vice President Harry S. Truman becomes President. Ho Chi Minh declares the independence of the “Democratic Republic of Viet Nam” and asks for President Truman’s acknowledgment. 1946 The First Indochina War begins: France versus the Viet Minh. CHRONOLOGY ix 1947 In the “Truman Doctrine,” Truman promises to support people seeking independence from outsiders. 1948 The US indirectly supports the French in Viet Nam financially. 1949 France recognizes Emperor Bao Dai as the head of the new State of Vietnam, and grants Viet Nam independence only within the French Union. 1950 The Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China recognize the (northern) Democratic Republic of Vietnam as the legitimate state of Viet Nam; the United States and Great Britain recognize as legitimate the (southern) State of Vietnam, headed by Bao Dai. The United States directly provides economic and military aid to France in its war with the Viet Minh. US military personnel: about 60. 1953 US President Dwight D. Eisenhower grants financial aid to the French war effort, totaling 80% of the French war costs. 1954 Eisenhower formulates the “domino theory”; France surrenders to the Viet Minh at Dien Bien Phu, ending the First Indochina War. Emperor Bao Dai appoints Ngo Dinh Diem as prime minister of the (southern) State of Vietnam. The Geneva Peace Agreement temporarily partitions Viet Nam into north and south, guarantees elections in 1956, and facilitates moving hundreds of thousands of (mostly Catholic) refugees from north to south. 1955–1956 Graham Greene publishes his novel The Quiet American. 1957 Diem visits the United States, where he is hailed by Life magazine as the “Tough Miracle Man of Vietnam.” As a Catholic, Diem especially is lauded by US Catholics, including Cardinal Spellman. 1958 With US help, Ngo Dinh Diem deposes Bao Dai, creates the (southern) Republic of Vietnam, and becomes President. Eugene Burdick and William Lederer publish their novel, The Ugly American.
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